Category: Political Traction

Now that Stephen Harper is going to transition into the private sector, I think his main selling point is that he was a successful leader for a decade of a G7 country. And that’s no small feat.
— Will Stewart

Parliament was on break this week, but lots still happened. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Japan for the G7 Summit — where he managed to fit in some anniversary time with his wife — and both the Conservatives and the Liberals held their conventions over the weekend. On top of that, there was media speculation that former Prime Minister Stephen Harper plans to resign his seat in the House of Commons.

Now the rhetoric seems partisan, seems self-motivated, seems over the top, and therefore, I don’t believe will gain traction with the average person.
— Randi Rahamim

‘Twas the elbow felt around the nation. On Wednesday, May 18, 2016 there was an event of epic proportions in the House of Commonsﾅkind of. Elbows were misdirected. Words were thrown. Insults abounded. And we are all left to consider the aftermath.
In this week’s episode, Allie and David discuss the incident in the House of Commons that resulted from rising tensions over Motion 6 and what is being considered the government’s attempts to curtail debate. Allie also talks with Randi Rahamim on the event and the NDP and Conservative parties’ response.

They don’t see themselves in Justin Trudeau and Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, and that’s, I suppose, fine — that’s their prerogative. But I think a lot of this is just really contrived.
-Colin MacDonald

Lately the government has been getting some heat for how it is spending taxpayer money — specifically with the size of the delegation Justin Trudeau took to the state dinner in Washington. Is the Liberal government spending money inappropriately?
This week, Allie talks with regular Colin MacDonald about this issue and about our Canadian ‘First Lady.’ Sophie Gr’goire-Trudeau requested extra assistance to help with her engagements as the Prime Minister’s spouse, which has resulted in some outrage, and Allie and Colin talk about why that is.

It’s easy to have sympathy and be captured by the moment, but really the challenges are in the long-term, and in many ways the worst is yet to come, outside the actual danger.

This week, our thoughts are with all those affected by the wildfires in Fort McMurray. For the most part, Ottawa and Canada were talking about different things this week, but both conversations were dominated by discussions of the emergency situation in Alberta. Allie talks with Jason Hatcher about the government’s response to the crisis in Fort McMurray and how Canadians are reacting. Jason is a Managing Principal at Navigator and leads our Western Canadian operations in Calgary. He has also led a number of projects, including Alberta First Responders’ Communications System

I don’t know that we can go backwards anymore, for any politician in any country. This is the world now. It is social media. Even Hillary Clinton is trying.

He’s just not ready. He’s got great hair. He’s the Internet’s boyfriend. This week we have a very special episode. We’re talking about the celebrity status of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with some very special guests.
To get some perspective on the intersection of celebrity and political culture, Allie talks with CTV’s THE SOCIAL Co-host and ETALK Senior Correspondent Lainey Lui, and Ryerson University’s Greg Elmer. Greg is a professor of Communications and Culture and Radio and Television Arts at Ryerson, and during the 2008 Canadian federal election he worked with CBC News to cover online campaigning. His research focuses on media and the role of new media in politics.
Image credited to Renegade98